Crisis in the Alpine: Finding the Right Questions for Conservation Action
A gray-crowned rosy-finch perches at a ski resort in Utah. Notice the band the bird is wearing, given as part of this project to monitor survival and movement. Photo by Janice Gardner.
If you’ve ever seen a pink-splashed bird in high mountain habitat, count yourself lucky! You may have seen one of three species of rosy-finch.
These birds are, undoubtedly, dazzling in both appearance and ability. “They’re incredible,” says Conservation Ecologist Janice Gardner. “Some of the most remote, rugged slopes in the western United States serve as their summer breeding habitats. They also ‘vacation’ during the winter at ski resorts and lower mountains—pretty respectable habitats themselves—and are especially active on good powder days. They live in some of the most extreme parts of the country."
Growing climate threats
A pika cautiously peeks over tallus on a mountain slope. Pikas are among many alpine species facing serious threats due to climate change. Photo by Janice Gardner.
As an alpine bird, rosy-finches are among pikas, wolverines, and other life on the front lines of climate change. Why? Many wildlife move to higher elevations or new regions as their traditional ranges warm or lose the ability to support them. High mountain species, however, are already adapted to live in some of the planet’s coldest places. As alpine conditions rapidly warm, these species may find themselves stranded on shrinking “islands” of suitable habitat. This threat is one reason rosy-finches have been identified as a priority for conservation and are listed on many state Wildlife Action Plans.
Complicating conservation planning is that rosy-finches are uniquely difficult to study. They’ve even been called North America’s most mysterious bird. If you’re involved in conservation, you know that the many mysteries inherent to diverse species and habitats are a part of what makes them so special. However, blank spots in the map of species and landscape data can also be a major obstacle to addressing mounting threats, especially as climate change shrinks the window of time to take action.
A black rosy-finch and gray-crowned rosy-finch at an Alta Ski Resort feeder. Photo by Janice Gardner.
From rivers to rockfall, surveyors face it all to get to remote rosy-finch habitat. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Biologist Tempe Regan surveys for rosy-finches in rugged alpine terrain. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Experts examine and band rosy-finches as part of conservation research. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Transformative questions
“The lack of baseline information on rosy-finches,” says Gardner, “makes it really difficult for scientists to wrap our heads around what to do. In our roles as wildlife biologists, we can’t make it snow, we can’t make it colder in the alpine, and we don’t know much about these birds. So what can we do?”
Successful conservation often depends on identifying effective questions that will support meaningful action. Answering the right questions can rapidly illuminate dim areas in our map of wildlife conservation data, painting a clearer picture of how to approach issues. It’s up to scientists and managers across habitats, entities, and legal boundaries to take on this difficult task.
“Those of us in rosy-finch conservation decided to get our heads together to answer a simple question: what is the core problem for rosy-finches? And what can we most realistically and effectively do to help?”
Structured decision making and rosy-finches
A gray-crowned rosy-finch rests on a tree branch. Photo by Janice Gardner.
The effort to identify conservation problems and meaningful ways of addressing them is based on a formally defined process called Structured Decision Making.
“Structured Decision Making prioritizes research topics that are framed by issues we can take action on,” says Gardner. “It starts with rallying those who are working for a species and identifying the problem to solve. Because believe it or not, if we don’t use a deliberate, collaborative process, we sometimes get wrapped up in our scattered projects and end up focusing on the wrong problem.”
Running with a group founded by Tempe Regan at Idaho Department of Fish and Game, Gardner formalized the Rosy-finch Working Group that spreads the Structured Decision Making process—and rosy-finch conservation work—across the West. Other partners include the United States Forest Service, Tracy Aviary, Audubon Montana, Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, Intermountain Bird Observatory, The Finch Research Network, and many others.
It’s not just birds and mammals that need help in high mountain habitats! Amphibians like the Columbia spotted frog are other beneficiaries of alpine conservation. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Biologist Tempe Regan surveys for rosy-finches in remote habitat. Rosy-finches depend on some of the most rugged terrain on the continent. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Abby Lawson, a Post Doctoral Research Associate out of USGS’s Eastern Ecological Science Center, has been key to facilitating Structured Decision Making for the working group. In her role at USGS, she has successfully used the process for multiple conservation projects and is excited to use it to help rosy-finch populations.
“We’re following this framework to allow everyone who is working on rosy-finches to zoom out to the broader context for these species,” Lawson says. “We’re asking ourselves what exactly the problem is, what is it that we value as managers and scientists, and how we want these things to intersect. That’s Structured Decision Making in a nutshell: what’s the issue, what do we value, and how do we want to achieve the things that we care about?”
As a facilitator for the working group, Lawson says that managers and scientists are used to discussing wildlife management, but discussing values is less familiar. “We do a problem framing exercise with the group to get behind a common problem, which isn’t as simple as it sounds. Then we discuss objectives and get to the center of what is it that we actually value before defining actions.”
Ecologist Janice Gardner releases a rosy-finch after recording their data at Alta Ski Resort. Photo by Kim Howes.
A key part of the Structured Decision Making process is making sure that outcomes positively impact wildlife species. In the case of rosy-finches, Gardner says there are plenty of research areas that just aren’t action-oriented enough for the team. “One of the research topics that seems to be emerging is the connections between rosy-finches and patches of snow in the alpine since it’s easy for rosy-finches to pick bugs and frozen seeds from the snow patches. It’s an interesting topic, definitely. But it’s not one of our priorities because of the simple fact that with climate change, biologists can’t keep snow in the alpine. Structured Decision Making helps managers and scientists identify approaches that we can physically do right now.”
“For rosy-finches and our Structured Decision Making process,” Lawson adds, “the question is this: How can we both increase rosy-finch abundance and learn something about these birds at the same time? We can do lots of experiments. But if we don’t impact the population in a positive way, sure, we learned something, but we weren’t actually helping the problem.”
For example, data that could support conservation is knowing exactly how many rosy-finches actually exist in the West. But, according to Gardner, that is surprisingly difficult to answer. “So we start with the simple question of whether or not rosy-finches are in certain areas. Management-wise, we want to keep rosy finches where they are, and a yes or no question is something we can measure. Finding that out is feasible, can be done quickly, and supports prioritizing the right habitats.”
Once core, action-focused questions are identified, the group discusses what they have in their toolbox and how to approach solutions. Structured Decision Making facilitators support the group in considering tradeoffs for different options and weighing alternatives. Finally, the group tackles plans to work on identified topics as a team.
Spectacular lupine dazzles our team on the way to a rosy-finch survey. Conserving alpine habitat not only impacts pikas and rosy-finches, but also plants, insects, fungi, and other diverse forms of wildlife. Photo by Janice Gardner.
Using the process for other conservation projects
Structured Decision Making has been successful in many conservation contexts and comes highly recommended by experts. Lawson says, “The value I really see in the process is that it gets people together and really talking. There is a flow of ideas. The process often leads to new partnerships, experiments, and grants, but most importantly, it creates a deeper understanding between those who are working to conserve a species. That’s what it’s all about.”
Gardner is confident that teamwork is the key to a future where the magic of rosy-finches and other wildlife continues to fill western mountains. "In my role at Sageland Collaborative, I love having the ability to speed up the conservation process. Work like Structured Decision Making has positive outcomes for wildlife, but few wildlife agencies have the staff to pull it off. That’s where nonprofit facilitation comes in.”
“Collaboration takes time and energy, trust-building, and relationship-building,” she adds, “but it pays off in dividends. A lot of folks are working in silos, but breaking down those barriers through our rosy-finch network means that all the biologists working on rosy-finches across the West are now connected—and that is huge.”
Looking to the future
As we face threats from climate change to development, it’s no secret that many of Earth’s ecosystems are in trouble. This period is an unprecedented one for species that have for thousands of years brought bursts of color, sound, and texture to the planet’s landscapes. Our team and partners are working to ensure that our grandchildren will get to experience this glittering diversity of life.
Sageland Collaborative Biologist Janice Gardner surveys for rosy-finches on rugged Idaho slopes. Photo by Sarah Woodbury.
As we join together in the face of uncertain futures, we ask for your help. Will you donate today to conserve the magic of rosy-finches and other wildlife?
Author: Sarah Woodbury